


A Thin Line Between Love And Crime

by hotchocolatedictator



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, Human AU, but for good reasons, criminal!thirteen, thirteen breaks the law a lot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:14:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23121577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotchocolatedictator/pseuds/hotchocolatedictator
Summary: The Doctor may be a criminal, but she’s always got a good reason. And honestly, Yaz can’t help falling in love.
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor/Yasmin Khan
Comments: 28
Kudos: 90





	1. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here’s my first attempt at a multi chap. Enjoy! Credits to The Pet Shop Boys for the lyrics in the title.

PC Yasmin Khan was cold, bored, and wet. She was on patrol tonight, had been for two hours now, and the most interesting thing that had happened was a car disturbing the relatively quiet night. The weather, however, was typical for Sheffield in winter, which meant cold, windy and rainy, - not a good combination for hours out on the streets. It was almost enough to make Yaz wish she was doing paperwork again. At least that was drier.

Yaz sighed, rubbed her arms for warmth, and wished something interesting would happen, just as she had been doing for at least the last hour. Wishing for crime wasn’t something a good police officer would do, but she was just so  _ bored _ , and even another parking dispute would be better than this - no, seriously, that’s how bored she was.

Her thoughts were interrupted by something finally - finally! - happening. At the other end of the street, a figure was standing outside a house, which would be normal except Yaz knew the family who lived there, and also knew that they were spending a much sunnier two weeks in the Bahamas. On top of that, the person - who, on closer inspection, appeared to be an eccentrically dressed female - was fiddling with a small object Yaz couldn’t quite see by the door. Apparently it was some kind of lock picker, as the woman pushed it into the lock and the door swung open. She was just about to step inside when Yaz called out.

‘Oi, you! What d’you think you’re doin’?’

She’d reached the house by now, and was standing in front of the woman, who’d turned towards the shout.

‘Jus’ sortin’ somethin’ out,’ said the stranger, and turned back towards the house as if that explained everything.

‘Hey!’ Yaz grabbed the woman’s shoulder, to get her attention and to stop her going into the house. ‘That’s breakin’ an’ enterin’, that is.’

The woman looked at her properly this time, taking in her uniform, and made a slightly unimpressed grunting noise.

‘Police. Don’t really like the police. Always tellin’ me off for somethin’.’

Yaz didn’t really know what to say to that. On one hand, it was a fair reason not to like the police. On the other - well, if the woman was always caught breaking into houses, she was surprised she didn’t get a lot worse than a telling off.

While she was trying to think of a reasonable response, the woman had walked into the house. Yaz followed her, hissing in horror, ‘You do know this is illegal? I’m afraid I’m gonna ‘ave to take you back to the station, ma’am.’

The woman grabbed Yaz’s arm with one hand, bringing a finger to her lips with the other to shush her.

‘D’you hear that?’

Yaz listened almost against her better judgement, keeping an eye on the woman the whole time. She was about to say she couldn’t hear anything when her ears picked up a faint noise,so quiet she wouldn’t have heard it if she hadn’t been listening. It sounded almost like…

‘Is that cryin’?’

The woman nodded, and this time Yaz didn’t try and stop her as the unlikely pair snuck up the staircase towards the source of the noise.

A floorboard on the upstairs landing creaked as Yaz stepped on it, and the crying stopped instantly, as if whoever was sobbing was afraid to be heard. Yaz saw her companion raise an eyebrow slightly at this, before stopping outside a door,motioning for Yaz to do the same. She pulled her lock pick out again,pushing the tip into the door’s lock. Yaz bit back a few remarks on lock picking, breaking and entering, and the laws regarding them. She could technically be considered an accomplice to the crime, so she probably couldn’t talk.

Neither woman reacted outwardly to the sight behind the door. For Yaz, it was her police training kicking in, forcing her to keep calm. She didn’t know what kept the other woman from reacting, and honestly, she wasn’t sure she wanted to. The child crouched on the far corner of the bed was far too thin, and even from the doorway Yaz could see they were hurt. The other woman made the first move.

‘Don’t worry. We’re ‘ere to ‘elp.’

As the stranger continued to move towards the child, speaking in a quiet, soothing voice, Yaz slipped out of the room and picked up her walkie talkie.

‘Hello? Yeah, it’s PC Khan. I need backup an’ an ambulance at 21 Canning Drive. It’s a child…’

Only 15 minutes later, the child was being driven away, and the parents - who Yaz was going to need to have some serious words with - were being contacted. Yaz was in a corner of the front garden, talking to the stranger.

‘So technically, what you did was illegal. They can arrest you for breakin’ an’ enterin’, y’know. But because you did it to ‘elp that kid, I’ll try an’ see if I can get ‘em to let you off.’

The woman, who’d been looking a little bored at the beginning of the conversation, looked up in surprise at the last sentence.

‘Really?’

‘Yeah. Least I could do, I guess. Um, could I ‘ave your name ‘an such? Make it easier to get you off.’

The woman smiled.

‘Course! Doctor Jenny Smith, at your service. Normally go by the Doctor though, or just Doctor.’

Yaz felt her eyebrow raise a fraction at the title Doctor. Most criminals she’d come across were teenagers, often drunk or high or even both - not nearly educated enough for a PhD or medical school.

‘PC Yasmin Khan. Yaz to my friends. Nice to meet you, Doctor.’

‘Nice to meet you too, Yaz! I’m callin’ you Yaz cos we’re friends now.’

It was a good thing no other police officers were around just then. Making friends with criminals wasn’t exactly standard policy.

‘Well, best be off. I’ll see you around!’

With that, the Doctor was off, leaving Yaz to figure out just how she was going to sort this one out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Comments and kudos are very much appreciated:)


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yaz is on call, and the Doctor’s at it again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two! This is already the longest piece I’ve ever written. Enjoy!

Thursday nights Yaz was on call - waiting at the station for someone to phone, asking for backup or reporting a crime. It was usually pretty quiet, and tonight looked like it would be no exception. A few calls had come through, sure, but nothing particularly interesting. She was beginning to get bored, especially after her superior had reprimanded her and another probationary officer for talking instead of working, never mind that nothing had been happening. Clearly that’s what school had been trying to prepare them for.

Yaz was just finishing off her fourth coffee when the phone went off. She sighed, swapped the mug for the phone, and prepared to take down the worries of another civilian.

‘Send backup to Flat 13, Ashville Court, Mendon Road. It’s drugs.’

Soon enough, Yaz was in the front seat of a police car with the sirens wailing and a fresh thermos of coffee in the cup holder. Upon reaching Mendon Road, she entered Ashville Court with a couple of other officers and trooped up to the third floor.

The door to Flat 13 was already open, and within it Yaz found an open plan kitchen, a table piled with pills, and two people. One of those people was a policeman scribbling away on a notepad, and the other… well, the other was the Doctor.

Yaz raised an eyebrow in her direction, trying to silently convey both a wish to know what law the Doctor had broken this time and the message that the Doctor couldn’t say they knew each other in any way.

The Doctor only got one of those messages.

‘Yaz!’

Just like that, every eye in the room was on her, and Yaz just  _ knew  _ there was no way she’d be able to explain this, but her superior officer was looking at her in surprise, and the Doctor was smiling like all her problems were solved.

‘Doctor,’ she replied, still desperately trying to tell the Doctor not to dig the two of them into an even deeper hole.

‘’Ere, can you tell this man I’m not doin’ anythin’ bad? ‘E doesn’t seem to want to listen to me.’

Picking up subtle messages was apparently not one of the Doctor’s skills. Noted.

‘Well, I’m afraid I don’t actually know what you’ve been up to ‘ere, so I can’t really tell ‘im anythin’ right now.’

Sergeant Haynes, unfortunately for Yaz, had recovered from the shock of seeing an officer talk to a criminal like they were  _ friends  _ or something enough to demand, ‘You know this woman, Yaz?’

‘We’ve met, Sergeant. She was involved in a case I ‘ad about a month back.’

Sergeant Haynes still didn’t look too happy about the whole business, but clearly reckoned there was more important things to deal with, as he turned to the officer standing near the Doctor and asked, ‘So, what ‘appened?’

‘Well, Sergeant,’ the man replied, ‘As you can see, this woman ‘ere’s got one hell of a lot of drugs there. Not illegal, but she seems to ‘ave gotten ahold of them in some… dubious ways.’

‘That better not be how you phrase your reports, Adams. Now, you, woman -’

‘Doctor,’ the Doctor put in, smiling helpfully.

‘Doctor, then. What’re you doin’ with all these drugs?’

‘They’re all medicines. I give ‘em to people who can’t afford ‘em themselves. They don’t call me Doctor for nothin’, after all,’ the Doctor replied, and that was not the answer Yaz had been expecting, but after the last time she’d met the Doctor she really should have guessed it would be something like this.

‘What kind of medicines?’

‘Hormone blockers and replacers. Stuff like testosterone, estrogen, antiandrogen. Don’t reckon money should stop anyone bein’ who they are.’

Yaz couldn’t help the happy feeling welling up inside of her.

‘But you don’t pay for all this?’

‘You really think I could afford this much stuff?’ The Doctor gave a dismissive snort, as though the very idea was preposterous. She didn’t elaborate on how she’d gotten the drugs. It seemed she at least knew telling the police your crimes didn’t do you many favours.

Sergeant Haynes apparently thought this was enough for now. 

‘Take ‘er in for questioning.’

The police officers began to file out. As they trooped back downstairs, Yaz managed to whisper to the Doctor.

‘Hey. I jus’ wanted to say, I think it’s really good, what you’re doin’.’

She wasn’t really meant to be condoning crime, was she?

‘Thanks!’ The Doctor beamed at her.

‘I’ll try seein’ if I can do anythin’ to let you off easier, okay?

‘Oh, thank you, Yaz.’

There was something in the Doctor’s face Yaz couldn’t quite identify. She looked almost touched by Yaz’s offer.

With another smile and a hurried ‘Bye’, Yaz got into her car and grinned as she realised her coffee was still reasonably warm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! I know this chapter was a bit short, but I promise the next one’s longer. Kudos, comments, and constructive criticism are all welcome


	3. 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I’ve taken ages to update! Enjoy

One of the good things about Yaz was that she’d always help her mates out. And despite being, at least as far as jobs were concerned, the opposition, the Doctor was a friend. So when Yaz received a text at 7:40 on a Wednesday evening, she was knocking at the Doctor’s front door in a bit under fifteen minutes - which is about as long, relatively, as she’d take to get to any other friend’s house, and  _ not  _ quicker, no matter what anyone else might say.

Although the Doctor hadn’t had to come back to the station in a while (which either meant she was committing less crimes or getting better at not getting caught), Yaz had seen her a few times since then: at the local supermarket, where they had chatted while trying to discover where the loo roll had been moved to after a refurbishment, in the park, where they’d admired the first flowers of the year and exchanged mobile phone numbers, and outside one of Yaz’s favourite cafes, where the Doctor had suggested going in for a coffee and Yaz most certainly hadn’t refused.

Which is why being greeted with an excited shout of ‘Yaz!’ and a brief but bone-crushing hug was no surprise. Almost immediately, the Doctor had grabbed Yaz’s hand and was dragging her through the house.

‘So, what was it you wanted?’ Yaz asked as the Doctor pulled her into what was probably the messiest room she’d ever seen.

‘Basically - don’t move that!’

The Doctor leapt forward just before Yaz shifted a book from a pile on the floor to an actual bookshelf.

‘Sorry, it’s fair enough you tryin’ to tidy up a bit, it’s jus’ that I know where everythin’ is in ‘ere, an’ if you move stuff I’ll probably forget where anythin’ is!’ She grinned. ‘Right, what was I sayin’? So basically, I’m doin’ a thing on the computer, an’ I remember you mentionin’ you knew a bit about coding, so I reckoned many hands make light work an’ all that.’

Yaz raised an eyebrow. 

‘You want me to ‘elp you with a ‘thing’, which ‘appens to need me knowin’ ‘ow to code? This wouldn’t be anythin’ illegal, would it?’

‘No! Well, maybe slightly,’ the Doctor hastily amended at the look Yaz sent her, ‘but it’s nothin’ bad, I promise!’

Yaz hesitated a second, remembering she was a police officer and should be very much against this. But she’d had firsthand experience with the Doctor’s crimes, and was confident that ‘nothin’ bad’ would hold true. Anyway, she couldn’t let the Doctor down.

‘Oh, what the hell,’ she muttered, before returning to a normal volume, ‘What d’you need me to do?’

If nothing else, the beaming smile the Doctor sent her made Yaz certain she’d made the right choice.

Yaz was alright at computers. She wasn’t any kind of tech genius, sure, but she could do a bit of coding, and she could work with electronics as well as the next Gen Z.

The Doctor, on the other hand,  _ was  _ a tech genius.

She was perched on an office chair, the kind that has wheels and a seat that could spin, which she used with a childlike glee Yaz found adorable. In front of her was a computer, and her fingers flew over the keyboard with an easy grace. Occasionally she’d ask Yaz, who had borrowed a laptop, to do something - anything from accessing a website to remembering a word or number. Still, Yaz had more than enough time to simply watch the Doctor, and admire how beautiful she looked when she was concentrating-

Yaz blinked and shook her head slightly, wondering where that thought had come from. She got up.

‘Tea an’ biscuits?’ She asked.

The Doctor looked up with a smile.

‘That sounds great, thanks! The kitchen’s jus’ through there - I like my tea with loads of sugar,’ she replied, pointing towards a door on the other side of the hall.

Yaz headed through the door into a kitchen that was tidied than the room she’d just left behind, but only slightly. She put the kettle on, debated whether she should try and tackle the dirty dishes by the sink, decided that it would probably mess up the Doctor’s extremely complicated organisation system, and instead began her hunt for other tea necessities.

After searching more of the Doctor’s kitchen than should probably have been necessary, Yaz poured the tea into two mismatched mugs. To one she added six spoonfuls of sugar, to the other a dash of milk and some sugar, although considerably less than the Doctor’s cup. She also managed to find a packet of custard creams, which she arranged on a plate.

Yaz wandered back into what she thought might be the study, and offered the Doctor her tea and the biscuits, which were received with a grin and a ‘Thanks!’. She then settled back into her own chair and sipped at her tea.

‘So,’ she said, ‘you plannin’ on tellin’ me what it is we’re doin’?’

The Doctor looked up, surprise and confusion written on her face.

‘Did I not tell you? Could’ve sworn I did. I’m gettin’ forgetful.’

‘Sorry,’ Yaz grinned at the Doctor’s expression, ‘but you ‘aven’t.’

‘Anyway, I’ve been transferring money.’

Yaz raised an eyebrow.

‘You said it was illegal. I’m guessin’ it’s not your money, is it?’

The Doctor wouldn’t meet her eyes.

‘Well, er, no.’

‘Whose is it, then?’

‘Before you get all judgy, I’m only takin’ money from the rich. The really,  _ really  _ rich. Like Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos. They probably won’t even notice it’s gone.’

‘So, what’re you doin’ with all this money?’ If there was one thing Yaz was sure of, it was that the Doctor was using this money for good. She wasn’t the type to just take it for herself, and although Yaz wasn’t 100% sure that she was going about it the right way, the Doctor’s intentions were always good, from what Yaz had seen.

‘Donatin’ it. To charities, hospitals, that sort of thing. Reckon it’s better than lettin’ it sit in some overstuffed bank vault.’

There it was. And, despite all the legal problems with that argument, Yaz couldn’t help but agree.

‘Alright.’

Yaz pulled her chair closer to the Doctor and grabbed a biscuit as she looked over what was on the computer screen. The Doctor gave her a raised eyebrow of her own.

‘No lecture on how I could get arrested for this?’

‘Nah, not tonight.’ Yaz grinned. ‘Now, let’s do this.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it! As always, kudos and comments are appreciated. Also, if anyone has any suggestions for crimes the Doctor could commit I’m happy to consider them :)


	4. 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I've taken so long to update! Hope you enjoy it

If any of the billionaires noticed that some of their money had gone missing, they didn’t say anything. The day after her and the Doctor’s little meetup, Yaz constantly refreshed the news app on her phone, convinced the next headline would be the start of an inquiry, which, in her head, did not end well for either of them. But as days passed and no such article appeared, she began to relax, realising that they’d actually gotten away with it.

Being a cop and all, Yaz had never properly broken the law before. Yes, she’d lied about her age when she was younger, like every other 13 year old on the Internet, and of course she’d ‘borrowed’ pens, paper and other bits of stationery from work - again, just like every other adult. But even as a teenager, she’d never been the type to shoplift, and she’d steered clear of any kind of gang.

The Doctor’s crime, however, was different. It wasn’t inherently  _ bad,  _ in the way Yaz had always thought of crime as. In fact, it seemed to help more than it hurt. That night with the Doctor… Yaz had friends who worked for charities. Back in primary school her friend’s nan had always talked about how underfunded the hospital she worked at was. She knew how much that money would help.

Yaz sighed as she set off to break up a fight at the pub - a step up from parking disputes, but barely. Despite the cases she’d been involved in recently, she was still a probationer, and apparently her superiors didn’t want her to forget it.

To pretty much nobody’s surprise, the Doctor was involved. Yaz may not have seen her in a fight before, but with the number of cases she’d been on that the Doctor  _ had  _ been involved in, it had only been a matter of time. Honestly, Yaz was surprised it hadn’t happened before.

Also, that woman could fight.

She was only about 5’6”, but she was holding her own against a man at least a foot taller than her, and making the most of her resources - Yaz was pretty sure chairs didn’t usually feature in fair fights.

She shook herself (‘you’re here to break up the fight, not gawk at her an how pretty she- stop it!’) and strode forwards to do her job.

* * *

‘So, you gonna tell me why you were in a fight?’

The job hadn’t been a particularly hard one - break up the fight, let them both off with a strong warning as no harm had really been done, and send them off back with their mates. Or rather, send the other bloke back off with his mates and then go sit somewhere quieter with the Doctor. Which was how the two of them ended up in Edward Street Park.

The Doctor swung her legs back and forth - almost childlike, Yaz thought - and finally muttered, ‘He was sayin’ stuff.’

‘What sort of stuff?’

Another pause.

‘See, there was this bloke, right? An’ there was this other bloke, an’ he was callin’ the first bloke names, and sayin’ stupid rumours an’ stuff, an’ no one else was steppin’ in, and so I told him exactly where he could get off. Except then he started callin’  _ me  _ stuff, an’ then it all sort of… escalated.’

Yaz bit back a sigh, partially awed by the Doctor’s readiness to help anyone in need and partly exasperated by how she was still avoiding the question.

‘Alright, but what sort of stuff?’ she asked. At the look on the Doctor’s face, she added, ‘I wouldn’t ask, but I need it for my report.’

At last the Doctor gave up.

‘It was cos he was Jewish, see. An’ he was wearin’ a Star of David necklace, and the other bloke saw it, an’ then…’

‘Ah,’ was all Yaz could think to say.

‘An’ I wasn’t gonna stand for that, cos it’s stupid callin’ people names cos of their religion.’

Good for you, Yaz thought, but she was still trying to be professional, so instead she said, ‘You wouldn’t ‘appen to know who he is, would you?’

‘Think I ’eard his call ‘im Darren. Dunno his last name, though.’

‘That’s alright.’ Yaz stood, and the Doctor stared at her.

‘You not gonna tell me off? Give me a warnin’ for fightin’ or somethin’?’

Yaz raised an eyebrow.

‘This definitely isn’t the worst thing you’ve done, law-wise, an’ I’ve never told you off before, ‘ave I? Anyway, he did sorta deserve it,’ she admitted.

‘So, you’re just gonna go, then?’

It took Yaz a second to make her decision, but not more than that. Her shift had finished a couple of minutes ago, anyway. The report could wait.

‘Fancy gettin’ a drink?’

* * *

The Doctor stuck mostly to ginger beer, but maybe she’d managed to have some alcohol without Yaz noticing, because she seemed a bit tipsy. Or maybe, Yaz reflected, watching the Doctor warble her way through ‘Sweet Caroline’, she was just like that anyway.

‘Yaz! Sing with me!’ The Doctor said, and Yaz couldn’t help but grin as she joined in at the chorus.

The song trailed off soon enough, in a jumble of half-remembered final verses and disjointed notes, and the Doctor settled down more comfortably into her chair.

‘You’re a good singer, you know,’ Yaz said.

‘Not bad yourself.’

Checking her phone, Yaz realised it was approaching 11:30, and she had to be in to do that paperwork the next day.

‘Should probably be headin’ back now,’ she said, ‘Need a lift?’

‘Fantastic, thanks!’

* * *

It didn’t take long to get to the Doctor’s house, and the ride seemed even faster as the Doctor rambled excitedly the whole way. So really, it seemed like no time at all when Yaz stopped to let her friend out.

‘Thanks for the lift. And the drinks. Should do that again sometime,’ the Doctor smiled, unbuckling her seatbelt. Then, before Yaz could react, she gave her a quick kiss on the lips and got out of the car, grinning and waving as she vanished into her house.

Yasmin Khan definitely didn't spend a few minutes sitting staring into space, touching her mouth lightly and smiling.

And she definitely,  _ definitely  _ didn’t think about that kiss all night.


End file.
